Latest / The Daily Word / June 3 – Overflowing with Hope
Transcript
- Robert Rosales: Hey, good morning, Lakeshore family, or good afternoon or good day, whatever time of day you're tuning in. Welcome to the Daily Word podcast. I'm Robert Rosales and alongside my wife Yolanda, we have the honor of serving as campus pastors at our Gastonia location as an extension of our senior pastor, Gil and Debbie Dearman. Now, just as a reminder, this podcast is a simple space where we share each day and we open up God's Word and we pay attention to what He's saying. And as a church family, we are committed to meeting with God daily, not out of routine, but out of relationship through scripture, through prayer, and by capturing what the Holy Spirit is stirring in our hearts and how it connects to our everyday lives. We're walking together through the Life Journal reading plan, and today we'll be focusing on the New Testament portion from that plan. Now just as a reminder, when I invest time with the Lord, I try to keep things really uncluttered. Just my Bible, journal, something to write with, and I always like to have a highlighter to mark what stands out in my Bible. At times, I'll also lean in on a couple of trusted study tools to help me go a little deeper and stay grounded in context. I like to use BibleRef.com and I also use Blue Letter Bible. Keep in mind, this is not to replace God's word, but it helps me study, it helps me listen, and it helps me stay in context. We also are following the SOAP method, SOAP, Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer. It's a simple and practical way not just to read the word, but to respond to God as we do. Now before we jump into today's devotional, Let's just take a minute and prepare our hearts to hear what God's saying. Would you just agree with me? Lord, as we open up your word today, we ask that you would open us by your spirit, make your truth come alive in us. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive and courage to respond. Speak to us, Lord. We are listening in Jesus name. Everybody said, Amen. Well, today's passage for June 3rd. Romans chapter 15 and I journaled from one of my favorite verses verse 13 Romans 15 13 let me read it to us out of the NIV and the NLT the NIV says this may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit the NLT I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Come on, somebody say amen. I like to give my journal entries titles. The title that I gave this one is simply this, Overflowing with Hope. Come on, say it with me. Overflowing with Hope. So here's my observations. The first thing is the word hope. I think it's important. The Greek word for the word hope is elpis. E-L-P-I-S. And it's important because our modern English word hope can often sound like wishful thinking. Kind of uncertain, like I sure hope it works out. But when we're reading the Bible in the New Testament, L-peace, Bible hope, is much stronger than wishful thinking. It actually means confident expectation. It means confident assurance and trust in what God has promised. So biblical hope is not uncertainty. It's not just human optimism, and it's not guessing. It's a settled confidence that God will do what he said he will do. L-peace could often sometimes in the New Testament be weak or uncertain. But I want for you to see that it is rooted in God's character. And that's why Paul calls God the God of hope. Meaning, God is not just a source of hope. He is the guarantee of hope. Let me say that again. God is not just the source of hope. He is the guarantee of hope. Paul is praying that believers would be filled with joy and peace as they trust God so that they would abound or overflow with biblical hope. So this is the picture. It's a picture of a life so anchored in God that confident, joyful expectation overflows from someone's life. Come on, somebody say amen to that. So here's a simple definition of LPs. Confident assurance that God will do what he promised. Come on, say it with me. Confident assurance that God will do what he promised. Biblical hope is not crossing your fingers, it's standing on God's character. Paul's telling the church that overflowing hope initiates or comes from the God of hope. In addition, joy and peace come along with it as we keep our trust rooted in Him. In context, this is Paul's prayer for the Church in Rome, which was going through some division, but they were also in the healing process. The Church in Rome needed hope because unity is difficult. Differences sometimes create tension, cultural division can sometimes run deep, and staying faithful to Christ in a hostile world is costly. So Paul points them back to the God of hope who produces what human effort cannot, joy, peace, and endurance in unity. This is so powerful for us. ⁓ How does this apply to my life? How does this apply? to our lives. This is what I jotted down. This is a huge encouragement to me or to us because I can be assured that no matter what I go through in life, if I stay anchored in God, if I keep my trust in God, I can expect for hope to overflow from my life. As a matter of fact, I declare over myself right now, Father God, I am anchored to you. And because of that, I declare and receive overflowing hope in my life. Lakeshore family, come on, receive that. Let's lean in and memorize this verse in Romans 15, 13. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Come on, just pray with me. Father God, thank you for speaking to us today through your word. We make a conscious decision to keep our trust anchored in you. And as we do, we thank you that our lives overflow with hope. I have enough for myself and the people around me. Use me to point people to you and to remind them that you are the God of hope. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Lakeshore family, as you go through your day, my prayer is that you'll develop a hunger for God and His word like you've never had before. As you do, God will open your eyes to the riches of His word, giving you revelation and life-changing insight that will help you become everything God has called you to be, fulfilling your mission, purpose, and plan for our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for joining me today on the Daily Word Podcast. I hope this encourages you to stay faithful in the word and sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading. God bless you and we'll catch you again tomorrow.